Ally McCoist not keen on new Rangers chief’s input

Ally McCoist was on hand to thank supporters for their support of the Rangers Charity Foundation. Picture: SNS

ANDREW SMITH

RANGERS manager Ally McCoist maintained yesterday he would not consider it a “good idea” if a new chief football operations officer the club intend to appoint had any authority to sign players.

McCoist was scheduled to meet chief executive Graham Wallace last night to discuss his budget for next season and the creation of the role that was announced in the club’s 120-day review. The post is considered akin to a chief scout meets director of football, with responsibilities having been outlined for “developing player talent identification, scouting and recruitment”. Yet, though McCoist has operated with no scouting network in recent times, he could not avoid sounding less than lukewarm on the prospect of working with such a figure.

McCoist offered up “don’t know” to questions on whether he would have a say in the appointment, how the role would work and whether such a person working away in the background could make his life “harder”. Asked if there was even a need for a director of football at the Ibrox club, the Rangers manager said. “I will need to talk to Graham about that. We definitely need help. We need help with scouting, with the medical department and with everything. I don’t know what [a director of football] would cover. It might cover some of that, but I don’t know exactly what his role would be.

“If the manager tells him which talent to identify then I think that’s a good idea, to be quite frank. That’s the best way to operate. I think it goes without saying, there’s no point in someone identifying talent that the football club or team don’t want, or don’t need. That would go without saying. That wouldn’t be a good idea.

“But obviously if he was identifying talent which the football staff want, then that would be a good idea.”

The knives are out for Wallace following the club’s 120-day review and accompanying interviews that have resulted in the police being duty bound to investigate a complaint that the Rangers chief executive misled shareholders last December by stating the club had sufficient funds to see it through to the end of the season, only for a £1.5m loan to be subsequently required.

McCoist, though, was willing to offer public support to his beleaguered chief executive yesterday, when asked if his boss had been “straight” with him. “I think Graham has been completely up front and completely honest with me, yeah, absolutely,” McCoist said. “Everything he’s said to me, it’s been completely up front, completely straight.”

BT Sport Q&A: Rangers | Hibs | Neil Lennon

THIS week’s BT Sport video Q&A looks at whether Rangers fans will buy season tickets and if the club’s supporters will force a change of ownership.

The form of Hibs under Terry Butcher is also examined following the Easter Road side’s derby defeat while the future of Neil Lennon is also considered following the announcement that his assistant Johan Mjallby is to depart at the end of the season.

• Email your Scottish football question for the BT Sport panel to answer. The next show will be recorded on May 7 after St Johnstone v Celtic with the video available on The Scotsman website the following day. You can also tweet us @TheScotsman.

A line-up of experts will handle your questions after each BT Sport game. Most match days, the team includes Darrell Currie, Derek Rae and Gary McAllister.

Over this season, BT Sport will air 30 SPFL matches plus 10 Rangers games from the SPFL League One.

• T&C We can not guarantee which presenters will answer your questions. Questions are vetted and no correspondence will be entered into.

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